The MediaREADY 5000, an advanced digital media center, is ready to ship according to a recent announcement by Video Without Boundaries, Inc. The TiVo-like recorder also features the ability to burn CD’s and DVD’s, and is capable of playing Real Media, DVD/CD, WAV, MP3, MPEG’s 1, 2 and 4, not to mention storage and retrieval of audio, video and picture files from its onboard hard drive(120 GB to be specific), MP3 players, digital cameras, and personal computers on the same network. Oh, and let us not forget its’ ability allow users to surf the ‘net, check email, stream video and audio, games, karaoke, and even a media jukebox. Wow! The unit retails for $699.

The MediaREADY 5000 is the digital home entertainment product millions of consumers have been waiting for,” said Jeffrey Harrell, CEO and President of VWB. “With this unit, consumers will finally be able to connect all of their digital entertainment products and accessories into one unit for easy living room functionality and use.” The company also commented that media and industry reviews of this product are extremely favorable, validating its sales and marketing efforts.

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This has got to be making the leeches on P2P networks salivating right now. Cablevision has teamed up with Narad Networks to launch a 100Mbps cable service in Metropolitan New York. Since the connection is symmetrical, this amounts to 50Mbps both upstream and downstream, and uses the existing cabling. Better yet, this is only the initial deployment; further architecture developments will allow up to a 10Gbps over the last mile. Cablevision services 4.4 million homes in New York. I’ve never wanted to live in Manhattan so bad.

As it turns out, Supreme Court has already cited a blog in a major decision. This should give you an idea of the power you have nowadays as an independent content publisher.

Jason talked about getting a legal letter from posting a Windows Mobile 5 screenshot. His advice was to pick up the phone and call the lawyer directly. He called and was told it is a trade secret, with his response being that he took a shot of a message board. He had no NDA with Microsoft, so the shot shouldn’t need to come down. We are journalists and we write about stuff. If someone walked across the street with a new iPod and someone snapped an image, would that be a trade secret infringement? The lawyer said no, and Jason rests his case. Internet entrepreneurs need to know that they shouldn’t be easily scared by the power that be. A legal letter can be scary, but Jason forces the lawyer to file the papers. Lawyers don’t want to discuss it, they just want you to do what they say. Stick to your guns.

One way to protect yourself is to say how you know something if you don’t know that it is true. For example, you can use words like “claimed” or “allegedly” if you want to report on a rumor. If you make a mistake, update the page. They also made mention of the EFF Legal Guide that we told you about a few weeks ago. Another great tool is Wikipedia’s Fair Use page.

Latest Gear Live Videos

Finally somebody did it. Now you can fit any two plugs into one outlet, not matter the size. 360 Electrical brings us an awesome power oulet. Never thought I would say that. Looks as if they will come out with some power strips in the near future. I’ll be there.

In case you ever wanted to turn your iPod into an inanimate little person that looks strangely like a white Gumby, iGuy is for you. It’ll run you 34.99 USD and most of your dignity. By all means, send us pictures of you interacting with your iGuy - we could use a laugh.

Mark Fletcher, Scott Rafer, Bob Wyman spoke about the evolution of RSS at Gnomedex. This was a very important panel to be a part of, and I think that if you are in internet business, or if you are thinking of getting into business online, the following is something you should read and evaluate. With Microsoft announcing that RSS is going to be built right in to Longhorn, it is time to pay attention to the medium.

Scott Rafer says that Feedster is placing ads in RSS feeds, and that he is surprised by how little the medium has evolved. Now that RSS is turning into a real business, only large economics can change it, like an urge to create RSS-only publications, and the take-off of RSS on mobile phones. Both will likely create new extensions. Mark Fletcher agrees that there hasn’t been much extensions to RSS. He sees RSS as the universal inbox, pulling in any type of info into an inbox. A way to deal with information overload.

Bob Wyman says he searches the future (PubSub). As they evaluate new documents from feeds and blogs, they are matched against standing, persistent queries. The results are transmitted as rapidly as possible to the users. He also agrees with the comments of the other guys - RSS isn’t just for text anymore. PubSub does airline status, earthquakes, etc. It will be a very important change in the environment. The other trend he believes we will see in RSS is not RSS. The future of RSS is Atom. Its a format that a lot of vendors have interest in. All aggregators read all formats, so there is less and less of a reason for anyone to use the antiquated formats.

One good point, that all readers need to pay attention to, is that web publishers should just choose one RSS format to link to. I whole-heartedly agree with this. Your average visitor has no idea what RSS is, and giving a choice between RSS 0.92, 2.0, and Atom is not offering any type of service. All aggregators nowadays can parse any type of feed, so choose one and run with it.

I asked them about monetizing RSS. Asking users to pay is dreadful says Bob. Dave Winer comments that placing an ad in the feed is like picking up a nickel on the floor, and ignoring the millions flowing by in front of your face. He then mentioned he would subscribe to a Best Buy feed. Jason Calacanis then commented that no one would ever opt-in to advertising, as it is ridiculous. The room then responded in mass disagreement, with a few commenting that they subscribe to Woot!’s RSS feed, which advertises a new product for sale every day.

Okay guys, I didn’t know that this many people were into our podcast show, but the amount of email I got asking why it wasn’t in there proved otherwise. Here is the skinny: Gear Live runs on Expression Engine - the CMS software that I feel is the best available on the market. That being said, there is some sort of odd problem with iTunes 4.9 reading our EE generated RSS feed. The feed works perfectly fine, and every other RSS aggregator/podcast software that I have tried today recognizes it perfectly. The people over at pMachine are looking into it, and hopefully soon you will see the Gear Live Podcast listed in the directory.

Philip “pt” Torrone gave a demo of how to hack the PSP, including the ones with the latest firmware on it, at Gnomedex. When when PSP came out, first version was 1.0 in Japan. People were interested in creating their own games. Sony then upgraded the firmware, and you wouldn’t be able to play homebrew games on the memory stick. Until a week and a half ago, your only option for running these apps was having a 1.0 firmware PSP. We are getting close to seeing UMDs dumped to Memory Stick.

You use an application called PSP Swap Tool. It tells you to put an app on one Memory Stick, and the other file on another. You insert the Memory Stick, and you can choose from a myriad of installed emulators. He scrolls through and finds a game he wants to play. He hits X to start it up, and then switches cards during the loading screen. The chess game starts up to a round of applause. He does it again, and this time starts the Commodore 64 OS on the PSP. You can check the tutorials at MakeZine.

Monday was the day that Google officially launched their new in-browser video playback site, Google Video. The site features content from CNN, The Weather Channel, Fox News, Food Network, The Discovery Channel and many more, many of which charge a fee to view. If you’re more interested in free content, you can search for videos from Greenpeace, Gamespot, PS3, breakdancing and a few other topics and see what comes up. The site offers a general search function (ex. New York) or advanced search functions that allow you to look for a specific show (ex. Title:Nightline).

Our mission is to organize the world’s information, and that includes the thousands of programs that play on our TVs every day. Google Video enables you to search a growing archive of televised content - everything from sports to dinosaur documentaries to news shows.

There has been mixed reviews about Midway’s latest FPS Area 51. Some hold this game as just another shooter while others go as far as claiming this is the next Halo. Want the truth? The truth may be harder to uncover and the road to it certainly isn’t without its share of conspiracies add that to a montage of people and creatures out to kill you in more ways than bullets can. According to the box, the U.S. Army has received a distressed call from; you’ve guessed it, Area 51 where a viral outbreak has forced the facility to shut down and a quarantine to be called. You play the part of Ethan Cole, a specialist in a HAZMAT team who has been sent in to investigate the mess. Easier said than done, right?